“I thought it was great,” Barkley said. “I think those guys are doing a good job…Anybody that thinks that was inappropriate – just tell them to shut the hell up.”

He believes athletes speaking out on issues of social justice creates a double-edged sword, “No matter what you say, you’re going to make somebody unhappy.”

Addressing the police killings of African-Americans, Barkley said, “The cops have made some mistakes, but everybody tries to pick a side and just act like they’re right all the time. There’s a lot of blame to go around…A lot of these cops are panicking.”

Barkley also threw some of the responsibility for the murders on certain individuals in the African-American community: “Some of these people have to sit back and say, what can I do – am I making my community better?

“It’s easy to sit back and blame the cops, It’s easy to blame the protesters, it’s easy to blame the fathers – some of these bad fathers out there – but you as a man, what are you doing to make your community better?,” said Barkley.

Is Obama Walking A Fine Line Between Supporting Cops & The Black Community?

President Barack Obama is receiving a lot of heat following The President and the People town hall that broadcast across all of the Disney networks on Thursday night.

Erica Garner, daughter of Eric Garner – the man killed by an illegal chokehold in 2014 – expressed her disappointment with the town hall on race via social media. In one posting on Twitter, Garner said, “I was upset because ABC lied and used me, my pain, and suffering for ratings.”

Roland Martin, host of NewsOne Now, called the town hall meeting “a waste of time” and said the broadcast was “clearly heavily edited.”

Martin also made mention of the individuals brought together for the event, noting family members of those who lost their lives at the hands of police officers were sitting side-by-side with family members of cops who killed African-Americans.

Martin said, “It was weird to have the mother of one of the cops that is going on trial, when we have a video of what he did, and he also lied about it.”

NewsOne Now panelist Angela Rye explained the purpose of the president’s town hall was to “soothe race relations in this country.” She added, “I think the president often walks a very difficult balance” of trying to please those who elected him, and the African-American community who overwhelmingly support him.

After last week’s epic takedown, Roland Martin was invited on The Wendy Williams Show to educate the longtime talk show host and her audience about race in America.

If you remember, Williams made a series of disheartening remarks about the need for HBCUs and the NAACP. In a blistering critique, Martin schooled Williams about the nuances of race and implored her to stick to reporting gossip.

On Thursday, Martin, the host of NewsOne Now, briefly and eloquently summed up the nation’s troubled past of slavery, segregation, and the oppression of African-Americans, leaving Williams with nothing to say except, “I stand corrected.”

All that and more in this special edition of the NewsOne Now Audio Podcast